The Caribbean Sailing Association regrets to advise that the Caribbean Dinghy Championship (‘CDC’) has been cancelled for this year. The Championship event was to have been hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (‘TTSA’) from November 24 to 26. The Caribbean Dinghy Championship is a unique sailing event sponsored by the CSA. It provides sailors from CSA-member islands with an opportunity to compete in teams against other member islands in a variety of popular one-design boats including Optimist, Laser, Laser Radial, 420, Laser Pico and Zoom 8, among others.

While many teams had expressed interest in participating in this year’s CDC, following damages caused by recent storms in several areas of the region, many teams are now focusing their efforts and resources on rebuilding their fleets and sailing programs and have therefore put plans to travel to participate in sailing events on hold until a later date. Only three countries were able to field complete teams – Antigua, Martinique and Trinidad – and it was therefore felt that there was not an adequate competition to ensure that a Caribbean Dinghy Champion team could be identified.

Caribbean Sailing Association President Kathy Lammers said: ‘While the CSA and TTSA are disappointed to have to cancel this very popular annual event, we appreciate the reasons that many island nations are unable to make a commitment to participate this year. We support the efforts of those islands to rebuild their programs and fleets and look forward to them getting back on track in the coming months, and their participation in next year’s CDC.’

Dates and location for the 2018 Caribbean Dinghy Championship will be announced in the near future.